Macclesfield FC are delighted to confirm that Sammy McIlroy has agreed to join the Club in a mentoring capacity.
Sammy will be using all of his vast experience to assist our First Team Management Staff both during training sessions and on matchdays.
The former Manchester United and Northern Ireland midfielder is quite rightly regarded as a true Silkmen Legend, after he oversaw the most successful period in Macclesfield Town’s history during the late 1990s.
McIlroy taught us all that the “impossible” was indeed possible and in doing so, inspired a generation of Silkmen fans who revelled in those halcyon days.
After securing a credible seventh-placed finish in the GM Vauxhall Conference and winning the Drinkwise Cup in his inaugural season, Sammy helped to change the narrative of the whole Club forevermore when his team stormed to the league title the following year.
Although their rightful promotion to the Football League was cruelly denied due to ground regulations, it spurred McIlroy, his trusted assistant Gil Prescott and everyone associated with the Club into righting the wrongs of what was undoubtedly a grave injustice.
A fourth-placed finish followed in 1996, yet the disappointment of not claiming back-to-back championships was tempered by an FA Trophy Final victory over Cheshire rivals, Northwich Victoria.
The 1996-97 campaign was arguably the most iconic in Macclesfield Town’s 147-year history, as McIlroy and Prescott led The Silkmen to their second GM Vauxhall Championship in three years and with it, promotion to the Football League.
The achievement was made all the more poignant due to the fact that Chairman Arthur Jones had tragically taken his own life the previous September and as his name echoed around Kettering Town’s Rockingham Road Stadium on 3rd May 1997, everyone felt both pride and sadness in equal measure.
Macclesfield Town’s first-ever Football League game was played on 7th August 1997 and little did we know that the fairy tale adventure was only just beginning.
After boasting the meanest defence in the country, Sammy’s side finished second behind Notts County and as such, were promoted to the third tier of English football at the very first attempt.
Whereas that proved to be a step too far for our Silkmen heroes and an immediate return to the fourth tier ensued, for all those Macclesfield Town fans who were privileged enough to witness it, the season created lifelong memories alongside the likes of Manchester City, Stoke City, Wigan Athletic and Fulham.
Sammy would then depart for his beloved Northern Ireland in 2000, before enjoying spells at both Stockport County and Morecambe – achieving promotion to the Football League with The Shrimps in 2007.
We are thrilled that Sammy has agreed to join us here at the Leasing.com Stadium and will be catching up with him later this week in order to gain his thoughts on the move.
